A Call from Jersey
“[Kluge] sketches a difficult but ultimately loving father/son relationship with a rare sincerity and welcome humor. Heartfelt, funny and poignant.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
Set in the1980s, A Call from Jersey follows the life of Hans Greifinger, a German-American who immigrated to the United States in 1928 and built a life for himself and his son, George, who has adopted the surname Griffin for his nationally-syndicated lackluster travel column.
 
“A luminous and compelling novel about the way surprises from the past can reshape our future. An invitation to a high school reunion brings a restless travel writer back to New Jersey to confront a father he abandoned, friends he forgot, and a history he never knew. Kluge knows his characters from the inside and his comic, loving portrayals stand with the best of Russo and Irving. Jersey has never seemed more exotic. Kluge entertains while provoking all the big questions about the meaning of origins and the search for home.” —Askold Melnyczuk, author of What Is Told
 
“I have admired every novel by P.F. Kluge, but I must say that A Call from Jersey is the most stunning, provocative and beautifully written of all . . .  This novel is the rare iconic immigrant story—inimitable, mesmerizing, tough-minded, generous, and haunting.” —Howard Norman, author of The Bird Artist
 
“This new novel adds a salient chapter to the history of the American dream.” —Daniel Mark Epstein, author of Sister Aimee
 
“Absorbing . . . as much about the twentieth-century American experience as it is about brothers, fathers, and sons.” —Publishers Weekly
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A Call from Jersey
“[Kluge] sketches a difficult but ultimately loving father/son relationship with a rare sincerity and welcome humor. Heartfelt, funny and poignant.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
Set in the1980s, A Call from Jersey follows the life of Hans Greifinger, a German-American who immigrated to the United States in 1928 and built a life for himself and his son, George, who has adopted the surname Griffin for his nationally-syndicated lackluster travel column.
 
“A luminous and compelling novel about the way surprises from the past can reshape our future. An invitation to a high school reunion brings a restless travel writer back to New Jersey to confront a father he abandoned, friends he forgot, and a history he never knew. Kluge knows his characters from the inside and his comic, loving portrayals stand with the best of Russo and Irving. Jersey has never seemed more exotic. Kluge entertains while provoking all the big questions about the meaning of origins and the search for home.” —Askold Melnyczuk, author of What Is Told
 
“I have admired every novel by P.F. Kluge, but I must say that A Call from Jersey is the most stunning, provocative and beautifully written of all . . .  This novel is the rare iconic immigrant story—inimitable, mesmerizing, tough-minded, generous, and haunting.” —Howard Norman, author of The Bird Artist
 
“This new novel adds a salient chapter to the history of the American dream.” —Daniel Mark Epstein, author of Sister Aimee
 
“Absorbing . . . as much about the twentieth-century American experience as it is about brothers, fathers, and sons.” —Publishers Weekly
17.99 In Stock
A Call from Jersey

A Call from Jersey

by P. F. Kluge
A Call from Jersey

A Call from Jersey

by P. F. Kluge

eBook

$17.99 

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Overview

“[Kluge] sketches a difficult but ultimately loving father/son relationship with a rare sincerity and welcome humor. Heartfelt, funny and poignant.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
Set in the1980s, A Call from Jersey follows the life of Hans Greifinger, a German-American who immigrated to the United States in 1928 and built a life for himself and his son, George, who has adopted the surname Griffin for his nationally-syndicated lackluster travel column.
 
“A luminous and compelling novel about the way surprises from the past can reshape our future. An invitation to a high school reunion brings a restless travel writer back to New Jersey to confront a father he abandoned, friends he forgot, and a history he never knew. Kluge knows his characters from the inside and his comic, loving portrayals stand with the best of Russo and Irving. Jersey has never seemed more exotic. Kluge entertains while provoking all the big questions about the meaning of origins and the search for home.” —Askold Melnyczuk, author of What Is Told
 
“I have admired every novel by P.F. Kluge, but I must say that A Call from Jersey is the most stunning, provocative and beautifully written of all . . .  This novel is the rare iconic immigrant story—inimitable, mesmerizing, tough-minded, generous, and haunting.” —Howard Norman, author of The Bird Artist
 
“This new novel adds a salient chapter to the history of the American dream.” —Daniel Mark Epstein, author of Sister Aimee
 
“Absorbing . . . as much about the twentieth-century American experience as it is about brothers, fathers, and sons.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781468301625
Publisher: ABRAMS, Inc.
Publication date: 08/16/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 352
File size: 1 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

P.F. Kluge is Writer in Residence at Kenyon College. He is the author of Gone Tomorrow and A Call From Jersey, published by Overlook. Two films, Dog Day Afternoon and Eddie and the Cruisers, are based on his work.

What People are Saying About This

Daniel Mark Epstein

P.F. Kluge has enchanting powers: a narrative voice that is distinctive without being mannered, and fictional characters bold to express their deepest emotions without sentimentality. A Call From Jersey is a beautifully modulated father and son drama that reconciles two generations of German Americans, those who immigrated in the 1930s, and their more cynical offspring who came of age in the 1960s. This new novel adds a salient chapter to the history of the American dream.

Howard Norman

I have admired every novel by P.F. Kluge, but I must say that A Call From Jersey is the most stunning, provocative and beautifully written of all. It's splendid fiction — of course—but it's like the autobiography of a life I wish I'd had. A life I wish I could animate with such powerful immediacy, humor, unmitigated emotion as this brilliant writer Mr. Kluge has. This novel is the rare iconic immigrant story— inimitable, mesmerizing, tough-minded, generous, and haunting. (Howard Norman, author of What Is Left the Daughter)

Askold Melnyczuk

A Call from Jersey is a luminous and compelling novel about the way surprises from the past can reshape our future. An invitation to a high school reunion brings a restless travel writer back to New Jersey to confront a father he abandoned, friends he forgot, and a history he never knew. Kluge knows his characters from the inside and his comic, loving portrayals stand with the best of Russo and Irving. Jersey has never seemed more exotic. Kluge entertains while provoking all the big questions about the meaning of origins and the search for home.

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